Capas executives liable for trekkers' death?

ANGELES CITY , Philippines   – Local officials of Capas, Tarlac could face raps for allowing tourists to trek up the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo despite the bad weather.

Central Luzon police director Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz said he has ordered an investigation into the liability of the local officials in the tragedy that claimed the lives of six people, including three French tourists identified as Martine Cholet, Walter Steylian and Thierry Chailot.

He said two of the Filipino victims, identified as tourist guide Orlando Fernando and barangay tanod Fidel Reila, drowned Thursday night while assisting in the rescue operations for the tourists.

He said another still unidentified tourist guide of the French group remained missing.

“If there is any evidence of criminal negligence or any civil liability, then we will file charges,” De la Cruz said.

He ordered Tarlac police director Senior Superintendent Rudy Lacadin to head a task force to investigate the possible criminal and administrative liability of the municipal officials.

He also ordered Lacadin to determine the exact nationality of the tourists.

“They earlier registered in the tourist checkpoint as Canadian citizens. The survivors said they (fatalities) are French. This caused confusion so that is why I ordered the provincial police director to investigate the apparent lapses,” De la Cruz said.

Police said the tourists registered early Thursday morning at the office of the Pinatubo Development Corp. (PDC) managed by the Capas municipal government in Barangay Sta. Juliana.

From there, they were allowed to hire local guides and rent vehicles to take them to the slope of the volcano, police said.

Department of Tourism regional director Ronnie Tiotuico said the PDC was taken over by the Capas municipal government in 2005.

“When the DOT was still in charge, the policy was to bar any trek to Mt. Pinatubo during bad weather, or any expected threat of it,” Tiotuico said.

The three French tourists were part of the group that had been swept by rampaging lahar flow caused by incessant rain.

Rescue teams later retrieved six French tourists from O’Donnel River that overflowed due to lahar that was carried downstream by rainwater at the Crow Valley side of Mt. Pinatubo.

Three Koreans, who were not with the French group, also went hiking to the volcano’s crater when the lahar swamped the mountain trail.

De la Cruz said Capas Mayor Rey Catacutan earlier assured him that the weather was fine when the tourists and their local guides headed to Mt. Pinatubo.

But De la Cruz, chairman of the regional disaster coordinating council, insisted that tourists should be allowed to go up to the volcano crater only if good weather had prevailed in the area for two consecutive days.

“They (officials) should have waited for the weather to clear for two days at least,” he said.

No Pinatubo eruption

Initial reports speculated that the sudden flow of lahar might have been caused by another volcanic eruption.

Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991 and deposited lahar and volcanic debris on its slopes straddling the provinces of Tarlac, Zambales and Pampanga.

Government seismologists, however, ruled out the possibility of Mt. Pinatubo erupting anew.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said there is no indication that Mt. Pinatubo has erupted again, citing the absence of any signs of imminent volcanic eruption.

Perla de los Reyes, officer-in-charge of the geology and geosciences research development unit of Phivolcs, said the heavy monsoon rains caused by typhoon “Kiko” could have triggered the mudslides that killed the French tourists and flooded the town of Botolan in Zambales as well.

De los Reyes said the floodwaters unleashed by a collapsed dike at Bucao River that emanates from Mt. Pinatubo in Botolan were not the result of any volcanic abnormality.

She said the O’Donnel River coming from Mt. Pinatubo had swelled with the heavy monsoon rains induced by typhoon Kiko.

“I don’t even think that the strong water currents swept down from the slopes could be considered lahar since the waters were rather clear. There were some volcanic materials mixed, but the flows were not lahar,” De los Reyes said.

Government weather forecasters said Kiko (international code name Morakot) had moved farther away from the country but would still induce monsoon rains.

“The rain would not be that intense. But we would continue to have strong winds brought about by the southwest monsoon. Kiko would be pulling the southwest monsoon,” weather forecaster Manny Mendoza said.

Rising death toll

The monsoon rains caused by Kiko left a total of 18 people dead and 18 more injured, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said yesterday,

Aside from the three French tourists who perished in Capas, 12 more people were killed in Baguio City where successive landslides hit the gold processing plant of a small-scale mining firm.

The death toll rose to eight yesterday as rescuers continued the frantic search for those still reported missing, initially reported as six.

The NDCC said those reported as missing are believed to have been trapped under the mud when they took shelter in their hillside huts near Liwliw creek down to Bued River.

Local officials, however, could not ascertain the exact number of missing miners, pointing out that more locals have been in the area to take advantage of the gold rush opportunity.

Kiko also displaced some 14,360 families or 73,171 people in Benguet and Pampanga, the NDCC said.

The regional disaster coordinating council of Central Luzon headed by De la Cruz reported that 10 barangays went underwater after a dike along the Bucao River in Botolan, Zambales gave way.

De la Cruz reported one fatality, who died from a heart attack, in Botolan.

He said a total of 20,000 people were displaced by floodwaters in the area.

In Infanta, Pangasinan, 25 fishermen were reported missing after their boat was hit by big waves caused by typhoon Kiko.

President Arroyo ordered the NDCC to provide all the necessary assistance to the victims and families affected by typhoon Kiko.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Mrs. Arroyo ordered the Philippine Air Force to deploy air assets to assist in the rescue and evacuation efforts.

Mrs. Arroyo also directed Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to assess the damage to agriculture.

Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. yesterday ordered the release of P5 million to finance the repair works in Botolan.

Ebdane also authorized the release of P1 million for the rehabilitation of roads damaged by landslides in Nueva Ecija.

Thousands of passengers and motorists were left stranded by the landslides that blocked the roads leading to Dalton Pass connecting Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya.

Zambales, on the other hand, has been placed under a state of calamity.

Zambales Gov. Amor Veloso said the entire province suffered at least P100 million in infrastructure damage and P1.2 million in agricultural losses. – With Evelyn Macairan, Jaime Laude, Marvin Sy, Pia Lee-Brago, Eva Visperas, Bebot Sison, Dino Balabo, Ric Sapnu and Artemio Dumlao